Van Dijk and partner Jason Denayer endured a torrid time at Celtic Park and the concession of three away goals to Roberto Mancini’s men has left the Serie A giants in pole position at the halfway point of the tie.

Deila, though, reckons his young backline duo have the talent to give his team the platform they’ll need to launch a historic Italian raid.

Celtic’s smooth operator canters through domestic tasks in first gear but in order to clinch the move to the English Premiership that he desires, the 23-year-old needs to hit overdrive in places such as Milan.

Deila believes he can do it but only if he concentrates on the job in hand and not the rich rewards which may come his way if he gets the job done and the Scottish champions forge a path into the last 16 of the Europa League.

The Celtic boss said: “If you think too much about what is going to happen before the game then you have already lost it.

“You have to think about the match, take it like it is and treat it like every other game.

“Virgil van Dijk is more than good enough to be a top player at this level. It is just a matter of relaxing and doing the same things he does in Scotland.

“Scott Brown does it and it is all about experience.

“Sometimes these matches can get built up too much but Brown has more than 100 big games under his belt and when the pressure is on you that is when you need to show yourself.

“I think they can get through it in a good way but they have to play more as a unit in the back four.”

Deila’s final point made reference to a possible change of tack from the manager tonight.

The Parkhead gaffer has his set ideas and a philosophy about the way football should be played.

High-pressing, high-octane, high- energy stuff is his preference but Delia accepts the San Siro may be the type of arena where such principles have to be tweaked. The thrilling first leg between the sides at Celtic Park was open.

In fact, it was too open even for a manager who adores the attacking side of the game.

Deila said: “For me, there were a lot of positive things coming out of last Thursday.

Celtic manager Ronny Deila checks in at Glasgow airport ahead of his side's clash with Milan

“But we don’t get punished so hard in the Scottish league because we have 70 per cent possession in almost every game. So it is more about balance and offensive marking in the defence instead of having somebody go at you.

“It is different. It gives me and the staff and the players more questions that we have to work on.

“We are going to create chances if we continue with the same things but there are some defensive things we have to get rid of.

“We were too wide in the defence. We have to be more compact in the centre of the pitch.

“The midfield was quite good but we need to be more disciplined in the back four and also have to be a little bit more conscious in the attack and play the match with a little more balance.

“The game is 90 minutes. We only need one goal if we don’t concede anything. So we need to have different plans whatever the result is.

“We have a lot of options now but we have to find the right match plan and find the right players to do it.”